Cheney 'disturbed' by Biden's performance at vice presidential debate

Former Vice President Dick Cheney (R) said he was “disturbed” by Vice President Biden’s (D) debate performance Thursday night and questioned whether Biden has the temperament to serve as president.

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Biden was verbally and physically animated in his debate against Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a performance that included interrupting his foe, laughing and scoffing at Ryan’s claims and gesticulating.

“I was disturbed by it, frankly. I have got a pretty specific federal requirements I am interested in when I look at a prospective president. And that's what the vice president is, and that's the ability to step in a moment's notice and take over,” Cheney said on Fox News Friday night.

“And you want somebody calm, cool, and collected, who asks questions and seeks good information and makes life-or-death decisions that we pay a president to take for all of us,” Cheney said.

Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s vice president, said that when then-Senator Biden would come to the White House for meetings with lawmakers, he would “talk longer than anybody else did” and “interrupt other people and just sort of butt in like he did last night.”

“From my perspective, that's not the kind of personality I would like to see in the Oval Office,” Cheney said, according to a transcript.

Later in the interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Cheney called Biden “a volatile personality” and a “unique personality” and said he likes him personally.

“And I say though, there is no question in my mind when I look at Joe Biden and Paul Ryan on the stage there last night, I think Paul Ryan's got what it takes to take over as president. I don't think Joe Biden does,” Cheney added.